Recipe: Meatloaf cupcakes with mashed potato frosting

While meatloaf and cupcakes are rarely used in the same sentence together, we've made these tons of times at Lil' Chef. Children enjoy slicing and dicing colorful vegetables with the right tools, and playing a hand in the process of making food helps them learn to try new food items.

Posted 1:35 a.m. Dec 2, 2011 — Updated 1:35 a.m. Dec 2, 2011

By

Susan Caldwell of Lil' Chef

While meatloaf and cupcakes are rarely used in the same sentence together, we've made these tons of times at Lil' Chef. Children enjoy slicing and dicing colorful vegetables with the right tools, and playing a hand in the process of making food helps them learn to try new food items. Make the ground beef mixture a day ahead and store in the fridge for baking the following day.

Ingredients

1 2/3 to 1 3/4 pounds ground beef

1 medium onion, cut into chunks

1 green bell pepper and any other veggie, cut and sauteed

1 large egg plus a splash of milk, beaten

1 cup plain bread crumbs (I prefer Panko)

2 tablespoons grill seasoning (recommended: Montreal Steak Seasoning by McCormick)

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Smashed potatoes

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Put ground beef into a big bowl. Chop and saute veggies. Add egg, beaten with milk, bread crumbs and grill seasoning to the bowl. Add a dash of ketchup, or bbq sauce for flavor along with Worcestershire sauce. Mix the meatloaf together with your hands. Place muffin liners in cupcake baking sheet. Use an ice cream scoop to help you fill meat into each tin. Top each meat loaf with a spoonful of extra sauce if desired. Bake about 20 minutes. Cut open 1 muffin to test that the middle is cooked through. While meatloaf muffins bake, make mashed potatoes. Once done, put mashed potatoes in large Ziploc bag and pipe on top. YUM!

Susan is a mom of two and owner of Lil' Chef, a cooking studio for kids and teens in Raleigh's North Hills. She offers recipes a couple of times a month on Go Ask Mom. Find recipes here every Friday.

Suggest A Correction